https://arab.news/5sp2g
- Separatist BLA claimed responsibility for bombing railway track in Mastung district on SundayÂ
- Railway attack took place as Pakistan prepares to mark its Independence Day on August 14
QUETTA, Pakistan: Pakistan’s railways on Monday suspended all train services to and from an insurgency-hit southwestern province for four days after separatists blew up a railway track, derailing six cars of a passenger train, officials said.
No one was harmed in the attack Sunday in Mastung, a district in Balochistan, said railways spokesman Ikram Ullah. Engineers were repairing the damaged track, he said.
The Jaffer Express was traveling from Quetta, the provincial capital, to the northern city of Peshawar when assailants targeted it with a bomb, Ullah said.
The banned Baloch Liberation Army, in a statement, claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes months after BLA fighters hijacked a train in the same district, killing 21 hostages before security forces were able to kill 33 assailants.
The attack came as Pakistan prepares to mark its 79th Independence Day on Aug. 14.
Balochistan has long been the scene of insurgency by separatists seeking independence from the central government. The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban.